Camogli is a small village located on the west side of the peninsula of Portofino in the province of Genoa, Region of Liguria, northern Italy. It was ever a powerful harbor / seaport in the late middle ages and it was also called the City of a thousand white sails. It now lives mainly from tourism and is known for its colorful houses that line the beach. The house colors once helped the fishermen of Camogli find the way back to their port.

Camogli Harbor

At the old time, this tower was for telling the destination for the boats.

It’s the Dragone Castle.

The beach of Camogli

The Colorful houses

Camogli’s giant frying pan will be center stage at the Sagre del Pesce Italian festival. Serving up more than three tons of fish on the harbor front, a massive frying pan has been an icon of the fish festival since 1952.

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We spent 2 days in the Cinque Terre, we arrived late around midday so we decided to visit first two villages – Manarola and Vernazza. For the second day, we visited Riomaggiore, Corniglia and Monterosso al Mare. We traveled by train from village to village.

The Cinque Terre meaning, Five Lands, is a portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. It is in the Liguria region of Italy, to the west of the city of La Spezia, and comprises five villages: Manarola, Vernazza, Riomaggiore, Corniglia and Monterosso al Mare. The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (Listed in 1997).

1. Manarola

Manarola is the oldest town of the five villages – It is the second smallest of the famous Cinque Terre towns frequented by tourists. The Tourist attractions in the region include a famous walking trail between Manarola and Riomaggiore (called Via dell’Amore, “Love’s Trail”). Unfortunately, it’s been closed due to the extremely damage.

When you walk through the town – you will see the large wheel (It might be the symbol of the village)

The old watermill in Manarola

2. Vernazza

Vernazza is little bit bigger than Manarola – you will find more restaurants there. They have a castle with the entrance ticket fee 1.5 Euro. From the top of the castle, you will be able to see more beautiful views.

3. Riomaggiore

It is the most southern village of the Cinque Terre. It was first mentioned in the 13th century. The founders of the village moved from the hills to the sea. The village was built in the valley of the Rivus Maior (river).

4. Corniglia

It is the smallest and quietest of the Cinque Terre villages. It is located 100 meters above sea level, on top of a small promontory. Houses are a bit different here, smaller and wider, similar to the houses of the villages inland. You might want to go by stairs. You can go also by bus.

5. Monterosso al Mare

The village is named Monterosso because the ruling family used to have red hair. “Monte dei rossi” means “red mountains”. It’s nice for summer with a nice long beach.

The Statue of the Giant – The Giant is Neptune, the god of the sea and he is holding the terrace of an old villa on his shoulders. The 14-meter tall statue was made in 1910 by sculptor Arrigo Minerbi and an architect named Levacher.

Foods you should try when you’re there.

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Well, Cortona is a small village on the hilltop right on the border with umbria – it’s beautiful and extraordinary history. The town is located an hour from Siena, and hour and a half from Florence and an hour from Perugia. This is a delightful hill town which is a living place for Tuscans as well as a tourist destination so it has great characters. It is, of course, the home of Francis Mayes who wrote Under the Tuscan Sun.

Here is the main square of Cortona, piazza della Repubblica.

The steep stairway in Cortona.

Stone stairway in the village.

Inside the village

On our way back from Umbria to Cortona, we’ve found many sunflower fields along the way. Normally you will find these sunflower fields around the full month of July.

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Rocca del Leone of Castiglione del Lago is a wonderful building which for centuries has been the most important military settlement placed on the shores of Lake Trasimeno and was formed by a wall with battlements polygonal Guelph , four towers and the triangular keep. It was begun in XII century on the ruins of an earlier fortification destroyed in 1091 by Henry IV ( 1050-1106 ) of Franconia. In 1297 the magistrates of Perugia decided to fortify the town and the next year they decided to build a fortress inside the castle to better defend the inhabitants. The admission fee was 5 Euro each which was included also the Corgna Palace.

the walls of the fort

It was interesting to see the painted ceilings and walls in the castle and walk around the walls of the fort. The views of Lake Trasimeno from the fort were amazing. This is surely one of the best sights I’ve seen in the area. The fortress is magnificently built and I love that we could walk all the up and along the walls. The walk to the fortress through the narrow walkway is also exciting.

Inside the castle

It’s a long walk but we were happy as we could see the lake and its surrounding as well.

As you can see from my photos – these were taken from the castle while were walking around.

From a narrow and long corridor – you can go to the Corgna Palace or you can come from the main entrance and walk inside the narrow corridor to the castle.

It’s the entrance of the palace

The paintings inside museum.

The museum of the Palazzo della Corgna is situated on the first floor, where there are eight rooms with “affreschi”. Made between 1574 and 1590 by a team of painters led by Nicholas Circignani said the Pomarancio, the scenes represent the deeds of Ascanio and various mythological and historical themes. Built from 1563 by incorporating the previous Baglioni palace of the early ‘500.

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The Varone Waterfall (La Cascata del Varone) is a beautiful place with not only a waterfall, but also a garden with beautiful flowers. It was a great experience for me to see this unique waterfall. It was basically a waterfall that had carved deep slots into the mountain, there were a couple of caves where we were able to see parts of the waterfall’s drops. It’s 10min from Tenno city or Riva del Garda. Enrance fee for adults 5,50€.

If you need something to cool you down, is it a nice place to go to but you should take something to cover you from the cold and water drops as the temperature change is quite significant.The waterfall drops of almost 100 metres.

I was very excited to see this big and high waterfall, especially, with the cave which we can enter and feel the water drops and listen the rhyme of waterfall. Absolutely, you might not be able to see it clear because it’s high but you can hear it. Here you can see the erosion of the limestone rock by water over 20,000 years. It’s the first time for me.

Inside the cave

Inside the cave

Inside the cave

As you can see these photos, I was absolutely not able to take photos because it’s quite dark and the water drops – it’s really amazing to hear the water drops.

On the stairs which you can go to see the waterfall from the top and here it’s a photo captioned from the top but it wasn’t that clear.

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The Scaliger Castle of Malcesine (Il Castello Scaligero di Malcesine) is in the province of Verona, region of Veneto,Italy. It’s a long the lake Garda.

The ticket fee: Adult-6 euros, children-3 euros, children under 6 years old-free of charge.

The lower ground floor and the ground floor host the Natural history museum. Through external staircase leads you to the first floor where exhibits and wedding ceremonies are held. The balcony where I took a photo – a popular place for the wedding photo shoot.

These photos are in the middle way going to the top of tower.

Lake Garda, viewed from the castle.

A nice caption 🙂

On my way to the top of tower.

On the top of tower. From there, you can take a very beautiful view through the lake Garda and its surrounding.

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It was the first time walking on the floating piers for me, I felt so amazed by what I have seen. It’s only opened for 16 days from 08th June to 3rd July, 2016. A 3-kilometer-long walkway was created as The Floating Piers extend across the water of Lake Iseo, the piers are 16 meters wide and approximately 35 centimeters high with sloping sides. The fabric continues along 2.5 kilometers of pedestrian streets in Sulzano and Peschiera Maraglio. The floating piers is from Sulzano to Monte Isola (Monte Island) and to the San Paolo island. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to walk until the San Paolo island due to the strong wind and heavy rain so we were asked to walk back. The entrance is Free of Charge, Open 24 hours.Thanks to the Artist Christo and Jeanne-Claude for making it happened 🙂

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Safari Park is in Pombia, Piedmont region, northern Italy. It was found in 1976 with the land area of 400,000 square meters. They also have an amusement park too. The ticket costs 17€ per person and the ticket for kids over 4 years old costs 12€ per person – under 4 years old – free entrance.

They have many kinds of animals including the 2 white lions – I wasn’t able to capture them.

At amusement park, some are free since they are already included in the ticket price. This one I took it for free.

Here is the aquarium, it’s quite small but they have many beautiful fishes which I have never seen before.

They also have some shows.

Many big Dinosaur statues.

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We spent our last Sunday there, the Vigezzo Valley, is located in the extreme north-east of Piedmont, a few kilometers from the Swiss border. It is also known as the valley of painters. The Valley is absolutely beautiful, we spent our day walking and walking along the valley up and down – it was a tiring day for me but I was so happy and excited to go.

Well, I can say that it’s my first time walking on the mountain. I was so excited to see the valley – the lakes are also beautiful as well.

It was one of my dreams to see the flowers on the mountain and took picture like this. It might be funny but I feel so happy 😀

The return ticket of funicular costs 12€ per person. It took us around 5-7 minutes to arrive on the mountain.

These photos below taken at Malesco, a village nearby.

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Avila, a World Heritage monument, is one of the oldest and most beautiful cities in Spain. It is just nearby Madrid – sometimes it is called the City of Saints and Stones. You might not believe how amazing it is!!! You can see all around the town, the view is beautiful and it’s also a great place to take pictures. It’s too hot while we were walking on the way around but it’s definitely worth it to buy the 4.50€ ticket and spend some time up on the wall.

I was in front of the entrance

The building of this surrounding walls of the city started in 1090- there are 82 semicircular towers and 9 gates.

We didn’t access some part as the walls as they were closed for being rebuilt but it was well worth taking a walk around them – they’re very impressive.